1. The Amway products are too expensive to compete with other brands. While IBO's claim high quality, that is subjective and for most consumers, Amway products are not well known and seen as generic in nature with a premium price. Many people consider Amway products "satisfactory" or "average". Some people do enjoy Amway products, but overall in the US market, it clearly indicates that price is a factor and people apparently choose Costco or WalMart. Also, person to person advertising is not as effective as national advertising such as Proctor and Gamble. While Amway did some advertising recently, they are too far behind in the game and their spotty reputation precedes them.
2. The compensation plan is very unfair to new IBO's. The new guy does the work but gets only a tiny fraction of the generous bonus Amway pays out. A new IBO who moves 100 PV would get back $10 or so while layers of uplines split up the remaining $90 or so on bonuses generated by the 100 PV. The only way an IBO can increase volume is to sponsor downline and hope that they will also buy into the system and dedicate themselves to moving volume consistently. But this will also fail due to reasons #3 and #4.
3. Amway's reputation is so bad that sponsoring downlline to build a group is nearly impossible. Even getting people to see the plan is a tough sell. It is why building a business without some deception is nearly impossible. It is why many uplines begin to teach that Amway saves marriages, or that you become nicer by building an Amway business, or that the Amway business is about friends and not money. That is a bunch of BS, business is about making money. If not you have joined a social club. People do not get into business to make more friends or to learn to be nicer people. People join a business with the intention of making money. Too bad the vast majority of IBOs end up losing money.
4. The uplines push the tools scam on their downline while they make handsome profits from these books, voicemails, standing orders and functions. What's more, these tools do not help an IBO build a business because of the reaons listed above. In fact, I believe that any IBOs who actually succeed, does so in spite of the system and not because of the system. There is zero evidence to indicate that the system tools have any relationship to IBO success. And most systems are more alike than not, despite what they may claim.
It is for these reasons that I believe Amway is not a good business opportunity for the vast majority of people. When you factor in the system expenses, you almost assure yourself of a losing proposition. Do the math and do the research. Your conclusion should be clear.
5. Even it's own numbers state that 0.26% reach platinum, which is the point where you break even. In addition, only 0.02% reach diamond, in which you get the large cur of bonus. Even if you reach that level, you need to keep pushing your downline, otherwise, its high attrition will cause your network to collapse and your income will rapidly shrink. Not to forget, the average income of an IBO is less than $100 a month.
ReplyDeleteYes, diamonds have to keep working. There is no walking away and collecting residual income forever. If you stop working, there goes your income. That's why diamonds never retire. The ones I've seen, quit to join other MLMs or died while still working as a diamond.
DeleteAs early as the 1970s, De Vos and Van Andel were sending messages to recruiters NOT to tell prospects that residual income was guaranteed for persons who reached a certain level in Amway, and then "retired." I recall some of the wording of one message: "Some of you are speaking as if upper-level members of Amway are no longer involved in the business, when in fact they are still quite active in it. This kind of misleading information must stop."
DeleteI've often asked Amway defenders to name one diamond who worked the business then walked away to collect residual income. Not a single Amway defender could name a single person to do that. In recent years, Bill Britt and Jim Dornan, both crown ambassadors, passed away and neither had been inactive and retired from Amway.
Delete